Firstbourne (episode)
Firstbourne is the first episode of the ninth season, and the 128th overall in LEGO Ninjago & My Little Pony: Masters of Friendship. The title is a reference to Firstbourne, as the Mother of All Dragons, however, she didn't appear until the episode, How to Build a Dragon. When Starlight Glimmer was in charge of the School of Friendship when Twilight Sparkle and the Alicorn princesses are gone, Discord gets frustrated and does his best to make Starlight's role impossible. Emperor Overlord has taken control of Ninjago City where Lloyd retreats to the shadows. Meanwhile, the other Ninja, the Alicorn princesses, and Young Wu are shipwrecked in the Realm of Oni and Dragons and find they are not alone. Plot A Spell-venger Hunt! At the School of Friendship, Starlight Glimmer showing her students a collection of valuable artifacts and treasures that were donated to the school from other cultures. She explains that the students are going to learn about the artifacts during a "Spell-venger Hunt"—a magical scavenger hunt—that she has organized, the winner of which will win a tour of the Canterlot Archives with Princess Celestia, however, as Celestia was stranded in the Realm of Oni and Dragons, Spike decided to cancel it. However, before Starlight can pick the teams for the Spell-venger Hunt, Sunburst tells Starlight, indicating that her friends are being called by the Cutie Map for a friendship mission. She goes to the Castle of Friendship throne room and discovers her friends have been called by the map as well—and to a very distant location. The Green Ninja’s Advance Training On the streets of Ninjago, a figure wearing a green cloak walks through the streets which are now terrorized by the Sons of the Overlord. A clip appears on the monitor, Ultra Violet is hosting her show and it's revealed anyone affiliated with the Ninja or opposed to the Overlord who has become Emperor is rounded up. Violet reveals that Ronin is the latest catch and the Police Commissioner is next on the list. As the figure continues walking, he is accosted by two members of the Sons of the Overlord, both wearing vandalized police uniforms, who remind him it was illegal to wear green. The person is revealed to be Dareth who tries to intimidate them by calling himself the Brown Ninja but the two see through his bravado and let him go, but steal his food. Dareth immediately came up to an alleyway, moving a dumpster aside and heads into what appears to be a cold storage unit where he sees Nya and Lloyd, training to try an regain the latter's powers, which are still inactive. He tells the bad news about his supply run to Misako and P.I.X.A.L. before getting out an old and moldy Puffy Potsticker he had been meaning to save, but chooses to give it to Lloyd to keep his strength up. The Green Ninja reluctantly eats it before resuming training. A Mission at the Oni and Dragon Realm In the Realm of Oni and Dragons, Kai manages to find some foil, making everyone excited as they try to use a radio, made from around the remains of the Destiny's Bounty to contact home. As they talk about their situation, someone complains that they're hungry. The person is Wu, who is now a child as Princess Celestia lectures him on rationing before the impatient Twilight Sparkle tells him to go hunt for some and Princess Celestia, along with Kai, Jay, Cole, and Zane decided to accompany him. As Twilight Sparkle and Princess Luna listen on the makeshift radio, Princess Cadance (who has lost her grip on reality) plays on her homemade game, which is really a piece of wood. Luna soon tells them she has gotten a transmission and they believe it's from Ninjago or Equestria. However, the people on the other side state they are preparing something and Luna translates some phrases to Twilight that they are talking about an ambush. Hearing this, Twilight realizes they are talking about them and tells the others to run away. As the trio run, figures are seen in the fog and quickly grab each of the Princesses in chains and drag them off. As soon as Starlight and Spike bid the Mane Five farewell on their mission, Discord appears, assuming that he is in charge of running the school while they are gone. When Starlight and Spike point out that Starlight is in charge instead, Discord attempts to enforce some of his own rules in addition to Twilight's, but Starlight stops him and insists on running the school in accordance with Twilight's guidelines. Starlight vs. Discord On her first day as temporary headmare, Starlight finds that Discord arrived before her and chaotically redecorated her office, prepared to take over in Starlight's place. Starlight declines Discord's help, but Discord has already hired several substitute teachers to fill in for the Mane Six's classes: Iron Will, Cranky Doodle Donkey, and a dragonsneeze tree. Unfortunately, Discord's choices for substitute teachers prove utterly ineffective at teaching friendship. As Discord aggravates Starlight on her inability to run a school, Starlight tells him to leave before his "assistance" causes any more trouble. Discord leaves, but Spike warns Starlight that Discord is merely testing Starlight and will likely not back off, even when commanded to. Nevertheless, Starlight resolves to run the School of Friendship properly and keep her promise to Twilight. The next day, Starlight brings in a new group of substitute teachers to help her teach classes—Trixie, Spitfire, and Maud Pie-and reminds the students about the Spell-venger Hunt scheduled for later that day. As Trixie teaches the school students about the friendship element of magic, Discord—pretending to be a student himself—interrupts the lesson with rude phone calls and sabotages Trixie's magic act by causing her to pull an ursa major out of her hat. Discord causes a similar disruption by summoning a bugbear to chase the students during P.E. When Yona nearly gets hurt during Discord's lesson, Starlight Glimmer intervenes and angrily scolds him for endangering students and trying to sabotage her headmare duties. However, Discord continues to antagonize Starlight and openly questions her capabilities, and in a fit of frustration, Starlight magically banishes him from the school grounds. Starlight begins to question her own abilities as headmare and wonders why her being in charge upsets Discord so much. Forming the Resistance In Ninjago, Lloyd's group try to evade Killow, Mr. E, and their grunts before they discover they are boxed in. The five soon find the wreckage of the Bounty and are sad at its destroyed state. Lloyd finds the picture of him and his friends before finding a leaf for Traveler's Tea and alerts the others of this. The group investigate the ship more and see half of it has disappeared, realizing that their friends were not killed but teleported elsewhere. This gives them hope before their enemies show up and prepare to attack but Karlof punches Mr. E away as Griffin Turner and Shade appear. The three take down their foes as a garbage truck driven by Skylor picks them up and everyone retreats. A Chaotic Spell-venger Hunt Later that day, the Spell-venger Hunt begins, and Starlight explains the game's rules and splits the students up into teams of two. As the students split up to locate the cultural artifacts and treasures hidden around the school, Starlight and Spike go to the observatory to watch from above. Ocellus and Smolder find the Helm of Yksler mounted on a pony suit of armor, but the armor suddenly comes to life and attacks them. Elsewhere, Gallus and Silverstream find the Crown of King Grover behind a painting in the library, but all of the paintings come to life and attack the students as well. As she watches this, Starlight quickly deduces Discord to be the cause, explaining to Spike that she only banished Discord's physical form from the school and that Discord is still able to cause trouble in ghost form. Spike wonders how they are going to stop Discord if magic failed to stop him, and Starlight says she isn't going to use magic this time. As Discord menaces more students with his ghostly mischief, the school erupts into chaos as the students start to believe it is haunted. When Starlight and Spike arrive and reveal Discord to be causing trouble again, Discord appears with all of the artifacts from the Spell-venger Hunt. When he refuses to stop causing trouble for Starlight, Starlight unbanishes his physical form from the school. Thinking as a guidance counselor instead of a headmare, she apologizes for making him feel left out of the school activities and offers him the position of vice headmare, which he eagerly accepts. With peace made between the two, Discord helps set everything back up for the Spell-venger Hunt. Sunburst and the Mane 5 return from their trip and reveal that Discord cast a spell on their cutie marks that sent them on a fake friendship mission. Sunburst thanks Starlight for looking after the school while they were gone, and Discord is disappointed that he's no longer the vice headmare. Missing in Action Celestia, Kai, Cole, Zane, Jay and Wu managed to find food, but when they return, the six discover their campsite gone and tire tracks left behind. Wu decides to follow them as that might lead them to their friends and the others follows him. Meanwhile, their friends are brought in shackles, blindfolded, into the lair of the Dragon Hunters, who take off the blindfolds for them to meet Iron Baron, who taunts them on their situation. Cast *Applejack - Ashleigh Ball *Chopper Maroon - Sam Vincent *Cole - Kirby Morrow *Cranky Doodle Donkey - Richard Newman *Dareth - Alan Marriott *Discord - John de Lancie *Fluttershy - Andrea Libman *Gallus - Gavin Langelo *Griffin Turner - Doron Bell Jr. *Harumi - Britt McKillip *Iron Baron - Brian Drummond *Iron Will - Trevor Devall *Kai - Vincent Tong *Karlof - Scott McNeil *Killow - Garry Chalk *Jay - Michael Adamthwaite *Lloyd - Sam Vincent *Man - Michael Adamthwaite *Misako - Kathleen Barr *Mohawk - Vincent Tong *Nya - Kelly Metzger *Ocellus - Dewyn Dalton *P.I.X.A.L. - Jennifer Hayward *Pinkie Pie - Andrea Libman *Princess Celestia - Nicole Oliver *Princess Luna - Tabitha St. Germain *Princess Cadance - Britt McKillip *Rarity - Tabitha St. Germain *Rainbow Dash - Ashleigh Ball *Skylor - Heather Doerksen *Spike - Cathy Weseluck *Sunburst - Ian Hanlin *Sandbar - Vincent Tong *Silverstream - Lauren Jackson *Smolder - Shannon Chan-Kent *Starlight Glimmer - Kelly Sheridan *The Overlord - Scott McNeil *Twilight Sparkle - Tara Strong *Trixie Lulamoon - Kathleen Barr *Ultra Violet - Maggie Blue O'Hara *Woman - Kathleen Barr *Wu - Madyx Whiteway *Yona - Katrina Salisbury *Zane - Brent Miller Spitfire, Maud Pie and Cozy Glow appears in this episode, but no lines. Transcript *Firstbourne (transcript) Trivia *This episode marks the eighth appearance for Sandbar (ninth if including Forgotten Friendship), Smolder, Yona, Gallus, and Silverstream, and seventh for Ocellus. Also, this episode marks the first appearance in Season 9: Hunted. *This is the second season premiere to recount the previous episode, the others are those of Season 2 and Season 10. **It's also the only season premiere to recount an entire season. *The Overlord is the announcer of the episode titles now, replacing Lloyd since "Big Trouble, Little Ninjago and Equestria." *As in for the next episode, Cozy Glow is the announcer for the episode title, making the second character to be a female as a intro character. The first being is Twilight Sparkle. **However, she only announce even episodes like How to Build a Dragon and Two Lies, One Truth. **Likewise, the Overlord is the only non-Ninja character to be in the introductory eye-graphics. *This is the second appearance of Cozy Glow after True Potential. *Ronin briefly reappears in this episode, thus making this his first appearance since "Scavengers," but he is caught and taken away to Kryptarium Prison by the Sons of the Overlord. *Ultra Violet has a new TV show called Ultra Hunt in which anyone resisting the Sons of the Overlord is arrested. The person or people that help in arresting the hunted are awarded cash prizes. So far, the Commissioner, Ronin, and some citizens have been caught and arrested. *Wu has now aged into a child like he was around the time his brother was bitten. He appears to have lost his memories of his old life, as he questions Cole calling him "master" and denies being a Ninja. However, previously as a toddler, he seemed quite aware of his older self's memories, despite having a younger mind. The reason is unknown. *Nya confirms Jay is her boyfriend. They have been together since the finale of The Changing Effect, but this is the first time their relationship has been directly stated. *Karlof, Shade, Griffin Turner, and Skylor reappear in this episode to form the Resistance. *The events of Princess Spike are referenced, like the second appearance of the Dragon Sneezing Tree. *Iron Will makes a reappearence since Once Upon a Zepplin. *Celestia brings up the question of where the Oni are. No answer has yet been given. *When the Ninja, Celestia and Wu are running from the Dragons, they hid inside a cave. Inside the cave, there are a series of paintings on the walls, most likely drawn by Dragon Hunters. *Lloyd and the others have realized that their friends are alive somewhere after finding Traveler's Tea leaf on the back of a picture of the Ninja team around the rubble of the Destiny's Bounty, and only half of the ship left, implying that it, Wu, the Alicorn princesses and the original Ninja are somewhere else. *Despite the episode being called "Firstbourne", it did not feature the Firstbourne in any way. *Whenever the scene switches to either Ninjago or Equestria, it switches with a spark of magic with Destruction and whenever it switches to the First Realm, it switches with a spark of magic with Creation until the season finale. *This is the only time Discord appears in the School of Friendship and interacts with the Students. Also, he appears in the only episode in this season. *Starlight Glimmer becomes a temporary headmare of the School of Friendship, until School Raze: Magic Destiny. *Cranky Doodle Donkey appears in this episode since No Second Prances. *Cadance has temporarily lost her sanity. *The picture Lloyd and the others found is a group shot of the Ninja in their original appearances, from the second Season 2 intro. *The opening scene is supposed to replicate the season 8 intro but in the post apocalyptic Ninjago City after the Overlord took over. *This is the only season 9 episode to not have a song, since this season is a musical. Differences between this episode, the original Ninjago episode and MLP episode, "A Matter of Principals" *Starlight Glimmer replaces Twilight Sparkle when she briefs about the Spell-venger Hunt. *Sunburst does not appear in the original MLP episode. *The Mane 6 are going on the fake friendship quest, but as Twilight Sparkle was stranded at the Realm of Oni and Dragons, the Mane 5 were going without Twilight. *Kai, Jay and Zane didn’t get captured by the Dragon Hunters, unlike the original Ninjago episode. *The original four Ninja and Celestia accompany Wu to find food, instead of Cole and Wu. *Luna, Cadance and Twilight were the victims of the Dragon Hunters. *This episode has an intro sequence unlike the original Ninjago episode. Errors *Andrew Francis is not credited for voicing Shade in this episode. *After taking Ronin down on Ultra Hunt, Ultra Violet is seen without her mask. *At the beginning of the episode, one of the Pegasus stallions doesn’t have wings. **At the same time, one of the Unicorns and the Earth Ponies have wings. Gallery Firstbourne_Title_Card.png|Title card CF676620-110F-4FBB-BBD8-18A30C8D5FD9.jpeg